1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to a method and system for handling urgent messages. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for a telephone answering system to notify a user of received urgent messages.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telephone answering systems range from large organizational voice mail systems to stand alone answering machines. When a caller dials a phone number and the receiver does not answer, the answering system prompts the caller to leave a message. Phone messages may also be received, particularly in a voice mail system, by having one person forward a message to one or more people. Users of the telephone answering system, sometimes called subscribers, usually learn of new messages by a visual indicator on the phone or answering machine. In a voice mail system, the subscriber is usually notified via a short-message-service indicator (such as a blinking light on the phone) that voice mail is pending. Likewise, a stand alone answering machine usually notifies the user that one or messages are pending by a blinking light. In addition, these systems sometimes provide a digital indicator showing the number of new messages that the user has received.
Mobile telephone systems often provide voice mail capabilities for their customers. If someone attempts to call the user""s mobile telephone, such as a cellular telephone, and the user is unavailable, the phone is turned off, or the phone is out of range, the mobile telephone system""s answering service prompts the caller to leave a message.
In some of these mobile telephone systems, voice mail cannot be delivered when the mobile telephone is out of range or is operating in roam mode. A mobile telephone can be in either analog or digital roam mode when it is outside its local operating area. Its local operating area may be defined by a geographic boundary or based upon the company providing service in a particular area. In these systems, the user is notified of voice mail when they are no longer out of range or are no longer operating in roam mode.
Telephone answering systems can also be accessed by a user calling the system and, using a pin code, checking to see if any new messages have been received. In a voice mail system, a central voice mail phone number is often used by subscribers. Subscribers dial the phone number and are prompted for their office phone number (or extension) and a pin code. In a stand alone answering machine, the user calls his phone number and waits for the answering machine to pick up. When the answering machine picks up (i.e., the greeting begins), the user breaks into the administrative functions by pressing one or more pin code keys. Once the pin code is entered, the answering machine informs the user whether any messages are pending.
Answering systems tend to perform adequately in receiving and storing messages. Some systems allow callers to leave lengthy messages while other systems limit call lengths to 30 or 60 seconds. Older answering systems store messages sequentially on magnetic tape, while newer systems tend to store messages on nonvolatile digital storage. Large systems, such as corporate email systems and personal computer based systems, may also store messages on nonvolatile disk drives offering larger storage capacities.
While traditional answering systems adequately store messages, they are challenged in their ability to distinguish between different types of calls. For example, critical, or urgent, calls are handled in the same manner as mundane, or unimportant calls. In addition, these systems are challenged in their ability to notify subscribers of calls. As discussed above, most systems provide simple visual indicators. If the user is away from the answering system, the user needs to call into the answering system to determine if new calls have been received. This can cause delays in responding to messages, especially urgent messages, that may be time critical.
Mobile telephone answering systems face additional challenges. The user is often not informed of messages until the user is in range or no longer in roam mode. This causes further delay in receiving messages.
What is needed, therefore, is a way to notify a user of messages other than simple visual indicators. Further, what is needed is a way to discern between urgent and non-urgent messages and inform the user of the urgent messages on a timely basis. Regarding mobile telephones, what is further needed is a way to inform a user of urgent messages while the user is in roam mode or is in an area where voice mail indicators or text messages are not forwarded. Finally, what is needed is a way to selectively forward urgent messages to an alternate phone number in the event the user is away for an extended time period.
It has been discovered that a telephone answering system can receive a priority along with a message. The message received can be an analog voice message or a digital text message. Regarding mobile telephones, what is further needed is a way to inform a user of urgent messages while the user is in roam mode or is in an area where voice mail indicators or text messages are not forwarded. The subscriber can indicate whether he would like all calls treated as urgent calls, all calls treated as normal calls, or select which callers are treated as urgent based upon caller id information. The subscriber can also allow the caller to indicate a priority. If no priority is indicated, the system can treat the call as a normal priority message.
The telephone answering system periodically tries to reach the subscriber at the subscriber""s telephone number. If the system is part of a mobile telephone system, then the subscriber can indicate whether he wishes to receive urgent messages when in roam mode. When the system successfully reaches the subscriber, the urgent message or messages are played. The user can delete the message or retain the message. In one embodiment, the user can also request that normal messages be played after the urgent messages have finished playing.
An urgent message forwarding feature allows urgent messages to be forwarded to one or more alternate locations. The alternate locations may include a pager in which a digital message is left notifying the subscriber to call for messages. Another alternate location may be an email address in which information about urgent calls is sent to the subscriber""s email address. Alternate phone numbers can also be used, in which case the phone mail system contacts such phone numbers and plays the urgent messages when the phone is answered, perhaps after a personal identification number (PIN) is entered.
The foregoing is a summary and thus contains, by necessity, simplifications, generalizations, and omissions of detail; consequently, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Other aspects, inventive features, and advantages of the present invention, as defined solely by the claims, will become apparent in the non-limiting detailed description set forth below.